Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Stars End Home Stand With 4-1 Loss to Stockton

(Credit: Andy Nietupski/Texas Stars)

Tonight's game was not the one Texas needed. Needing to be perfect to make the postseason, the 4-1 loss to Stockton put the Stars two games below .500 and further sealed their fate as a non-playoff team this coming spring.

There wasn't any scoring in the first period as the smaller weekday crowd and the sluggish on-ice effort from both teams seemed to contribute to a sleepy atmosphere at the H-E-B Center.

"The second period we kind of picked it up, but those penalties killed us," said Matej Stransky, referring to the six power play opporunties that the Stars handed the Heat. "Obviously, we’ve [been] struggling on the PK all year, and it's in the back of our heads. We were going in the right direction the last couple games and got back to it. That’s on us and we have to be better."

Ultimately, the game hinged on some small mistakes in close to the Texas net. The Stars got a great performance from Justin Peters with many highlight reel saves on the night. However, Hunter Shinkaruk took advantage of a turnover by Gavin Bayreuther for the Heat's first goal and a late period push saw Texas come up 0.2 seconds short at the end of the second to make it 2-1.

Matej Stransky did score his team-leading and career-high tying 23rd goal in the game.

Caleb Herbert is likely to be suspended following his cross check to Oliver Kylington in the third period. Texas killed the major but couldn't gain any momentum from it to bring the score to a tie. The final goal would be sent into an empty net for the 4-1 final.

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